Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 2, 1994 TAG: 9412020053
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. - Former TV evangelist Jim Bakker could be back in the pulpit soon alongside his daughter.
Bakker, who did 4 1/2 years in prison, a month at a halfway house and four months under house arrest for bilking followers of his PTL television ministry out of millions, became a free man at the stroke of midnight Wednesday.
But the fallen preacher, who rose to fame in front of a TV camera, spent his first day of freedom since 1989 in seclusion at his mountain home in western North Carolina, where he lived under house arrest. Bakker still must complete five years' probation.
The 54-year-old preacher has been quiet about his plans, but his daughter, Tammy Sue Chapman, recently hinted to supporters of her singing ministry that her father may join her in the pulpit.
- Associated Press
Drunken driving claims fewer lives
ATLANTA - Deaths from drunken driving accidents have dropped by nearly one-third over the last 12 years as states raised their drinking ages and grass-roots campaigns raised awareness of the problem, the government said Thursday.
Last year, 17,461 people were killed in alcohol-related traffic accidents, down 31 percent from 25,165 in 1982, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
In 1982, alcohol accounted for 57.3 percent of traffic deaths; that declined to 43.5 percent by 1993, said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which collected the data.
- Associated Press
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB